Blogging the San Diego Padres… established 1997

Kids Do the Darndest Things

The boxscore shows that Everth Cabrera was caught stealing in Friday afternoon’s loss to the Rockies at Coors Field. What the boxscore doesn’t show is how it happened.

With the Padres trailing, 3-0, in the eighth, Cabrera slashed a single to left field, bringing up Matt Stairs to bat for starting pitcher Clayton Richard. On a 1-2 pitch, Cabrera broke for second.

He got a great jump off Rafael Betancourt, who had just replaced the dominant (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K) Jorge De La Rosa on the mound. Cabrera beat Miguel Olivo’s throw by plenty.

One problem: The momentum from Cabrera’s head-first slide pulled his back foot off the bag. Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, covering on the play, held his glove on Cabrera, who was called out. Stairs then fanned to end the frame.

In the bottom half, Sean “Out of Options” Gallagher coughed up four runs, including three on a mammoth home run off the bat of Clint Barmes. It was a fitting conclusion to an ugly game.

Someday, we’ll look back at this and laugh. Not today, mind you, but someday.